23 of August, or 23rd of like next two years? lol, I know they'll pull something like that

P.S. Plus, next month's EGM I believe, or one of the gaming magazines is going to have the cover story be SHV, so either way, eventually we'll be seeing some Silent Hill goodness, and sooner than later.

I have the text from the September EGM issue... No pictures yet sadly, but without further ado..

SILENT HILL 5

It would seem The Collective is very honored to be working on Silent Hill 5 and rightfully so. After Konami announced they were passing on the developer work to an outside company, it was discovered that quite a few developers wanted to work on the IP. In the end, these other developers were "scared" out of doing such an ambitious title.

The Collective, evidently, is not so easily frightened.

Character Debacle
Although Alex may look similar to other protagonistâ€™s in the series, he is an altogether different character. Alex Shepard is 22 years old and with that comes the attitude and thinkingâ€™s of a standard young adult.

While SHV will feature an entirely new plot (ala SH2), the developers have said

Along with Alex and his family (more on that later), a new host of characters will be featured in this entry. That doesn't mean however, that settings, situations and settings wont be familiar.

"It's important that the characters fit into the overall style of Silent Hill," says Brian Hourton (SHV Lead Artist).

About that story bit...
(what follows is a recap of the story we know so far)

Alex is in a Military Veteran's hospital, recovering from a near fatal wound he received. (It is not specified how he received the wound). While there, Alex has a premonition that his young brother, Joshua, is in danger.

He leaves the VA for his New England home town of Shepards Glen. Upon returning however, he finds his mother in a catatonic state, his brother and father missing and the entire town shrouded in a bizarre fog.

Gameplay
Alex's military background plays both into the game dynamics and the theme of the story. Knowing this however, the developers aren't attempting to create any sort of political standpoint.

"Alex will be confronted with horrors that reflect his psychological state" Horton adds.

Graphics
To sooth everyone's soul, the grain filter will indeed return for Silent Hill V, however in addition, other filters will be added as well. Filters that give hairline cracks in the screen or are filtered with debris allow the developers to change the mood and atmosphere of the game WHILE it's being played.

Interestingly enough, the game is using the Havok engine in a unique way. The middleware is being used in the same capacity as it was in Saints Row and in the upcoming game Halo 3. Now when you bump into chairs or tables or open doors, the game will register that action in the in-game environment. Bump into a chair? It will in turn bump into a table causing not only a response physically but also audibly. This new "noise", the running on creaking floors etc, can and will alert enemies to your position.

Missing since: 07 Nov 2006Notes left: 1076Last seen at: indiana, u.s. of a

♪oo-weeee! yeah, umph! you got it baby, got it goin on♪

it's starting to sound pretty good. the interactive enviornment!? hells yeah. havok is okay. but unreal engine? you want the characters to look like marcus fenix? cause when you use that engine, the characters have to have bulk to them.

it's starting to sound pretty good. the interactive enviornment!? hells yeah. havok is okay. but unreal engine? you want the characters to look like marcus fenix? cause when you use that engine, the characters have to have bulk to them.

An early game in production called Frame City Killer was also said to be running on the UnReal Engine. That game has since been canned. Also Square Enix's new rpg ip will be using UnReal. SO anyway they don't all have to look like Gears of War or UT, it's just an art style... Though UnReal isn't all it's cracked up to be, as a developer mentioned... the UnReal Engine's graphical prowess relies on the fact that you will be moving slowly (or 'on foot' don't take this to be the end all be all, there are certain situations, complexities etc.).

Frankly I's rather the new Team Silent make their own graphical engine to suit what they want to do rather than rely on middle ware. Havoc is a physics engine. The stuff the EGM thing mentions sounds very cool! I can't wait! Hopefully they optimize the game for PS3 and take advantage of space on a blu-ray disc... then they can go multi-disc and port more easily to 360 and whatever...